Printing or decorating machine



NOV. 19, 1968 A, MOES ET AL. 3,411,439

PRINTING OR DECORATING MACHINE Filed April 3, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG I INVENTOR. HENDRIK ADOLF MOES HUMPHREY ALFONS \Q QTOR VAN DER ROER Iearman 1 mCcLJlOC l Nov. 19, 1968 H. A. MOES ET AL k 3,411,439

PRINTING OR DECORATING MACHINE Filed April 3, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG 2 INVENTOR.

HENDRIK ADOLF MOES HUMPHREY ALFON VICTOR VAN DER ROER ufearman 8- mcCullwh NOV. 19, 1968 M055 ET AL 3,411,439

PRINTING OR DECORATING MACHINE Filed April 5, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. HENDRIK ADOLF MOES HUMPHREY ALFONS ICTOR VAN DER ROER NOV. 19, 196 8 055 ET AL 3,411,439-

PRINTING OR DECORATING MACHINE Filed April 3, 1967 s Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG 4 INVENTOR HENDRIK ADOLF MOES HUMPHREY ALFONEYVICTOR VAN DER ROER ,Ceaman Ev mcculloch Nov. 19', 1-968 55 ET AL 3,411,439

PRINTING OR DECORATING MACHINE Filed April 3, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 l I m INVENTOR.

HENDRIK ADOLF MOES HUMPHREY ALFONSBQIICTOR VAN DER ROER :[earman a! mceullocll United States Patent Oflice 3,411,439 Patented Nov. 19, 1968 3,411,439 PRINTING R DECORATING MACHINE Hendrik A. Moes and Humphrey A. V. van der Roer,

Amsterdam, Netherlands, assignors to Van Dam Machine Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Apr. 3, 1967, Ser. No. 627,929 11 Claims. (Cl. 101-38) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A printing or decorating machine having an orbiting, indexing turret with a plurality of circumferentially spaced, container-receiving arbors thereon which are movable in a path of travel to a continuously revolving decorating or printing drum to present a side wall portion of a container to the drum at a decorating station, the machine having sensing means conditioned to determine whether an arbor proceeding to the decorating station has a container thereon, and mechanism controlled by the sensing means for moving the entire turret and all of the arbors thereon axially away from the printing drum if no container is on the particular arbor approaching the printing station.

Background of the invention This invention relates to a decorating or printing machine of the general character disclosed in the Hovekamp and Russell United States Patent No. 3,195,451, wherein an indexing turret of the same character is employed and wherein each of the radically extending, container-mounting arbors is itself withdrawable if, for some reason, no container is received on the arbor. The present invention is concerned with much simpler and more reliable mechanism employing another concept in which the entire turret is withdrawn axially if no container is provided on an arbor which is to be moved to the decorating or printing station.

One of the prime objects of the invention is to provide 'arbor withdrawing mechanism for sensing when a container is not in position on an arbor as it approaches the printing station, which is far easier and more economical to manufacture and maintain in good operating condition.

Summary of the invention Briefly, the invention includes an axially reciprocable turret for supporting the circumferentially spaced arbors on an orbiting shaft and a sensing means disposed so as to be simultaneously engaged by containers on two successive arbors for withdrawing the turret from the decorating or printing member if one of the arbors has no container thereon.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be pointed out specifically or will become apparent from the following description when it is considered in conjunction with the appended claims and the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary, perspective, side elevational view of the machine with cups being shown in position on the transport arbors or mandrels;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged, transverse sectional view of the arbor indexing turret taken on the line 22 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an opposite end elevational view of the turret taken on the line 3-3 of FIGURE FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary, sectional, side elevational view taken on the line 44 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a similar view taken on the line 55 of FIGURE 3 and showing the turret assembly in printing position;

FIGURE 6 is a schematic view of an electrical circuit which may be used.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings, a letter F generally indicates the frame of the decorating or printing machine (FIGURE 1), which includes a bed surface 10 mounting spaced apart supports 11 on which a printing wheel or drum 12 is journaled on a shaft 26. A pedestal surface 13 supports an indexing drive unit 14 from which extends a drive shaft 15 on which a turret assembly or mandrel carrier generally designated 16 is fixed for rotation. The unit 14 may comprise conventional geneva mechanism or cam mechanism of the character shown in US. Patent No. 3,228,086 connected to a suitable electric motor and, as shown in FIG- URE l, is provided to revolve the turret 1-6 in counterclockwise increments to dispose mandrels or arbors 17 successively opposite the periphery of drum 12 at a printing or decorating station P. The turret shown moves successively through 45 arcs of revolution and has a short period of dwell between each revolving movement.

The container supporting arbors 17 receive the plastic containers C to be printed from an overhead supply source generally designated 18a in a manner which will be de scribed. Each of the mandrels 17 comprises a frustoconical outer sleeve 18 (FIGURE 2) rotatably mounted by a ball bearing assembly 19 on a tubular support 20 fixed to a tubular rod 21 having an enlarged threaded portion 22 which is received by a mounting block 23. As FIG- URE 2 indicates, a container C is received upon a mandrel 17 in the twelve oclock position, when the indexing turret assembly 16 is momentarily halted. From the twelve oclock position, each mandrel 17 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction in FIGURE 2, to engage an image transferring blanket 24 mounted on the printing drum 12. Each container C is then discharged as indicated in FIG- URE 2 when the mandrel 17 which supports it pauses at the three oclock position.

The printing mechanism Because the containers C have inclined side walls, the printing drum support members 11 are par-allelly mounted on the bed surface 10 in a skewed position in order that there may be a continuous or overall contact of the tapering container side wall with the blanket 24 on drum 12. The drum 12, which may have four circumferentially spaced blankets 24, is driven at a predetermined low speed in the neighborhood of about 50 rpm. by a gear 25 mounted on the'shaft 26. The gear 25 may be driven by a suitable electric motor (not shown) through conventional shafting and gearing in any convenient manner.

For the sake of convenience, it may be assumed that the offset printing mechanism shown and described in the Hovekamp and Russell, United States Patent No. 3,195,451 is used in the present machine and accordingly the printing mechanism will not be described in detail. Only the parts shown in FIGURE 1 will be identified. Mounted on a shaft 27 journaled between supports 11 is a roll 28 incorporating a gear 29 in mesh with the gear 25. The roll 28 also incorporates a plate 28a for transferring images to the blankets 24. The usual mechanism is provided for supplying ink to the plate cylinder 28. The circumferential spacing between blankets 24 is such, and the speeds of printing drum 12 and the indexing turret assembly 16 are so correlated, that a radially protruding blanket 24 does not engage a container C until the container C has been indexed to the nine oclock position (FIGURE 2) and has paused for an interval during which time the leading end of the blanket engages the side wall of the container C at the nine oclock position and causes the mandrel sleeve 18 to revolve to transfer the image from the blanket 24 to the container side wall as at 30.

The container source, generally designated 18a, incorporates feed mechanism for moving containers one at a time to each mandrel 17 in the manner shown in FIGURE 2. Again for the sake of convenience, it may be assumed that this feed mechanism is identical to that described in the aforementioned United States patent and accordingly only the portions of the feed mechanism shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 will be identified. The stack of containers C to be decorated or printed are supplied between a plurality of circumferentially arranged and spaced, vertically extending guide rods 31. Surrounding the guide rods 31 are a plurality of circumterentially arranged screw feed cylinders 32 having helical grooves 33 for engaging the rims r of the containers and moving them downwardly from the guide rods 31. The feed cylinders 32 may be driven in unison by a common drive belt 34 trained around a drive pulley 35 mounted on each feed cylinder drive shaft 36. As in the aforementioned patent, the belt 34 may be driven by a suitable drive pulley which in turn is driven by suitable drive means (not shown) and, of course, the rotation of feed screw members 32 is correlated with the speed of rotation of drum 12 and the indexing of the turret assembly 16 so that only a single container at a time is delivered to each mandrel 17 in properly timed relation.

T he container sensing and turret withdrawing mechanism As previously indicated, mechanism is provided for insuring that the blankets 24 will not print the mandrel sleeves 18 when no containers C are actually in place on the mandrel 17. This mechanism is particularly shown in FIGURES 4 and and will now be described in detail.

Keyed on the outboard end of shaft as at 37 is a guide sleeve 38 which rotates with the shaft 15 but is axially fixed thereon. The turret assembly 16, which includes a plate 16a, is bored as at 39 and is mounted on the sleeve 38 for axial sliding movement on guide rods 40 anchored between a hub portion 38a of sleeve 38 and a stop plate 41 which is fixed to the sleeve 38. To assure smooth axial sliding movement of the turret plate 16a, roller bearing assemblies 42 are provided on the turret plate 16a surrounding rods 40 as shown. Coil 43 mounted on the guide rods 40 normally urge the turret plate 16a in a direction away from the printin drum 12, and a single-acting, fluid pressure operated cylinder 44 is provided to move the turret plate 16a toward the drum 12 when sensing means to be later described indicates a container C is in position on a mandrel 17 at the printing station P. When fluid under pressure is admitted to the right end of the cylinder 44 in FIGURE 5, the springs 43 are overcome and the container C on the mandrel 17 at the printing station P is held in printing engagement with a blanket 24 on drum 12. Cylinder 44 may be a conventional single-acting, solenoid-operated, spring-returned air cylinder, having the usual valve operating cylinder advanve solenoid 44a (see FIGURE 6), and may be mounted on a plate 45 supported by rods 46 which extend freely through openings 47 in plate 41 and are threaded as at 48 in openings provided in the turret plate 16a. The piston rod 49 of the cylinder 44 is threaded at its outboard end and is received in a threaded opening 50 provided in shaft 15. A return spring 4411 is provided in cylinder 44 to bear against the ram 49:: on rod 49 and return the cylinder 44 when air is permitted to bleed from cylinder 44.

To permit the cylinder 44 to rotate with the turret assembly 16, the line 51 for supplying air to operate spring-returned cylinder 44 is received in a rotary coupling 52 concentrically disposed with the axis of rotation of shaft 15 and connecting with air chamber 52a. The normally open contacts 53 (see FIGURE 6) of a limit switch 54 (see FIGURE 4) are provided to operate the cylinder 44, the switch 54 being supported on a 4 bracket 55 mounted on a support 56 having a transversely extending arm 56a (see FIGURE 2). Also mounted on the arm 56a, as shown in FIGURE 2, is a rod 57 on which an arcuate sensing plate 58 is mounted for pivotal movement on pin 58a (FIGURE 2) toward and away from drum 12.

The operation It is important to note that the arcuate plate 58 is of sufficient length and is so located that a container C on one mandrel has not passed beyond it before a container C on another mandrel engages its leading edge. Thus, if containers C are provided on all of the mandrels, the plate 58 will remain in a leftward position in FIGURE 5 to maintain the limit switch actuator roller 54a in actuated position and keep the contacts 53 closed. If, however, no container C is in position on a mandrel 17 as it passes to the leading edge of sensing plate 58 and the preceding container C has moved beyond plate 58, the spring loaded limit switch arm 54a is free to move outwardly under the influence of the switch spring 5412 and contacts 53 accordingly open to deenergize the solenoid 44a and permit the return springs 43 to move turret assembly 16 outwardly a fraction of an inch away from the printing drum 12. Thus, ink is never transferred from the printing drum to the surface of an arbor head and no ink is ever transferred to the interior surface of cups received on a decorated arbor head. In operation, it is the protruding rims r of the container C which engage the plate 58 and when no container appears on a given mandrel 17 movement of the turret assembly 16 outwardly need only be a matter of, for example, 40 thousandths of an inch, which is less than the width of the protruding lip or rim r. When two containers appear on a single mandrel 17 at the printing station P the blanket will not be injured because the cylinder 44 will give. A regulating valve V may be provided to permit air to escape when a predetermined overpressure is reached in cylinder 44. At the three oclock discharge station the containers C could be removed manually but it is preferred that they be stripped from the mandrel 17 by a jet of air which is delivered through the tubular arbor support rods 21 and through suitable openings in the end of sleeve 18 to blow a container C to a suitable take-away conveyor (not shown).

It is to be understood that the drawings and descriptive matter are in all cases to be interpreted as merely illustrative of the principles of the invention rather than as limiting the same in any way, since it is contemplated that various changes may be made in the various elements to achieve like results without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a machine for decorating workpieces such as container side Walls: frame means; decorating member means; orbiting turret means having a plurality of radial container receiving arbors thereon movable in a path of travel past said decorating member means to present a side Wall portion of a container to said decorating member means at a decorating station; switch means disposed adjacent said decorating station; sensing plate means disposed between the path. of the arbors and the switch means and mounted for movement toward the switch means when engaged by a container on an arbor, and for return movement; and means controlled by said switch means for moving said turret means and decorating member means relatively apart if the said arbor has no container thereon, and in a direction toward one another to engage the container on the arbor with the decorating member means if the next consecutive arbor has a container thereon.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 in which said means controlled by the switch means includes a fluid pressure operated cylinder.

3. The combination defined in claim 2 in which the fluid pressure operated cylinder urges the turret means toward the decorating member means.

4. In a machine for decorating workpieces such as container side walls; frame means; decorating member means; means for rotating said decorating member means about an axis; shaft means extending generally perpendicularly to said axis; orbiting turret means mounted on said shaft means for rotation therewith and axial movement thereon and having a plurality of radial container receiving arbors thereon movable in a path of travel past said decorating member means to present a side wall portion of a container to said decorating member means at a decorating station; means for moving said turret means axially on said shaft means in a direction toward said decorating member means; sensing means positioned to determine whether an arbor to be moved to said decorating member means has a container thereon; and means controlled by said sensing means for moving said turret means and said arbors axially on said shaft means away from said decorating member means when no container is on an arbor to be moved to said decorating member means.

5. The combination defined in claim 4 in which said decorating member means comprises a printing drum having a peripheral surface with circumferentially spaced apart image transferring offset printing blanket means thereon; and means is provided for driving said drum in timed relation with said turret means.

6. The combination defined in claim 4 in which switch means is controlled by said sensing means; and said means for moving said turret means toward said decorating member means comprises fluid pressure operated cylinder means, axially aligned with said shaft means, and operated by said switch means.

7. The combination defined in claim 4 in which said sensing means comprises an arcuate plate, having a 1eading end engaged by a first container on an arbor shortly before it arrives at said decorating station, and disposed to be in engagement with a container on the preceding arbor at the time said first container has engaged the plate.

8. The combination defined in claim 4 in which spring means normally urges said turret means in a direction away from said decorating member means.

9. The combination defined in claim 5.in which said turret means is indexed and each arbor has a dwell period at a time when it is in confronting relation with a blanket means, rotation of said drum causing rotation of a container in such a confronting relation and rolling transfer of an image thereto.

10. The combination defined in claim 6 in which said cylinder means is mounted by said shaft means to rotate therewith and has pressure fluid supply line means coupled to the cylinder means in a manner to permit rotation of the cylinder means relative to the supply line means.

11. A machine for decorating or printing workpieces such as container side walls including: frame means; decorating member means; means mounting said decorating member means for operational movement past a decorating station; rotatable means including orbiting turret means mounted thereon for axial movement and for rotation therewith, and having a plurality of radial container receiving arbors thereon movable in a path of travel past said decorating member means to present a side wall portion of a container to the decorating member means at the decorating station; sensing means positioned to determine whether an arbor to be moved to said decorating member means has a container thereon; means provided for moving said turret means axially on the rotatable means in a direction toward the decorating member means; and means controlled by the sensing means for moving the turret means and arbors axially on the rotatable means away from the decorating member means when no container is on an arbor to be presented to the decorating member means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,195,451 7/1965 Hovecamp et al. 3,227,070 1/1966 Brigham et al. 10140 3,249,045 5/1966 Karlyn 10140 3,306,190 2/1967 Groth 101'40 XR ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner. c. D. CROWDER, Assistant Examiner. 

